Date-stamped : 22 Jun97 - 14:20 By D J Rutnagur at Northampton First day of four: Hants 335-4 v Northants WITH the air thick with mist and moisture lurking under the pitch`s surface, Hampshire had reason to fear the worst when John Stephenson lost the toss and they were asked to bat first. Indeed, the visitors suffered a casualty in Jason Laney as early as the fourth over, but prospered for the rest of the day. The brilliance of Matthew Hayden, who scored his fourth centu- ry in as many matches, 150 off 226 balls, only partly explains why Northamptonshire captain Rob Bailey`s decision to put his op- ponents in became a nonsense. The home side, who were without their overseas player, Moham- mad Akram, suffered from the inability of all the bowlers to find their aim until the cause was irreparably damaged. Before Kevan James (56) missed his aim playing across a ball of full length from Paul Taylor, Hayden and he had added 189 for the second wicket. Then, in vastly improved conditions, Robin Smith feasted on an attack that had recovered its poise but remained friendly. Af- ter a lean match on an indifferent pitch at Basingstoke, Smith`s bat rang true as he drove, cut and flicked off his legs to score a sedate but at- tractive 71 not out. Hayden had been watchful to start with, but if it took him an hour to hit his first four and more than two hours to reach his fifty, it was because a lot of the bowling was too inaccurate to be played at. The best ball that Paul Taylor produced scattered James`s stumps, but he had overstepped in delivering it. The score then was only 16. Once Hayden felt he had the measure of the conditions, bound- aries flowed off his bat. There were 10 of them in his fifty. There were as many in his next fifty, which took him only 65 balls - 25 few- er than the first. His strokes were remarkable not only for the power behind his drives and the touch with which he caressed the ball off his legs, but the precision with which he placed his pulls and hooks. It took a ball from Taylor that achieved extra bounce as it left him and a leaping one-handed catch at slip by Bailey to end Hay- den`s handsome, chanceless innings shortly after tea. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Hampshire hold firm By D J Rutnagur at Northampton Second day of four: Hampshire 373-6 v Northants HAMPSHIRE lost their last two specialist batsmen, Robin Smith and John Stephenson, in the 13 overs that the weather permitted at Wan- tage Road. But their overnight position was too sound for these setbacks to cause a significant shift in the balance of power. Smith, who had middled everything on the previous day, saw little of the bowling, receiving only 14 balls in 40 minutes before he played on with an attempted square-cut off John Hugh- es. Stephenson, a run away from his half-century, fell to what proved to be the last ball of the truncated day, caught behind trying to glance a straying ball from Paul Taylor. For their NatWest Trophy match against Cumbria on Tuesday, Northamptonshire will be reinforced by their overseas pace bowler, Pakistani Mohammad Akram, who was hospitalised for three days by a septic growth on his neck. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Taylor takes haul of wickets to six By D J Rutnagur at Northampton Third day of four: Northants (40-2) trail Hampshire (405-8 dec) by 365 runs MAGNIFICENT catches in the slips cordon by Kevan James and Will Kendall to dispose of Northamptonshire`s openers for only 33 runs augmented the worth of Hampshire`s formidable total and strengthened their grip on a match which, for the second day running, was wrecked by rain. But their advantage will count for nothing unless contrivance is stretched to the extent of Hampshire for- going their right to enforce the follow on and forfeiting their second innings. From their point of view, the tactic would be worthwhile in the respect that chasing runs on a pitch providing liberal lateral movement will not be easy. Moreover, Northamptonshire, in their present plight at the foot of the championship table and one of six counties still awaiting their first win, will accept any challenge. Despite heavy overnight downpours, play started on time yes- terday, but the threat of rain grew every minute. Still, Hamp- shire batted on to add 32 runs for the loss of two more wickets, both claimed by Paul Taylor. This brought the left-armer`s haul of wickets here to six and swelled his tally for the season to 29 out of the 61 captured by the county. Taylor`s captain, Rob Bailey, said: "Paul will be the first to admit that he could have bowled better. But he deserved his fig- ures because he stuck to his task. It`s a pleasure to have somebody like him in the side. He`s my Mr Reliable." Currently striking at an average of 19.44 in the championship, Taylor has already bowled more than 200 first-class overs this sea- son. "I must admit I find himself under a bit of pressure at times," he said. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)